a sluggish economy has been a bone of contention. >> reporter: the president started his day in ohio with better-than-expected unemployment numbers. >> this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in october than at any time in the last eight months. >> reporter: employers added 171,000 new jobs in october, about 45,000 more than many analysts anticipated. the labor department says hiring over the summer was better than previously thought. despite the improvement, the president is still facing high unemployment. because more americans are trying to find work, it ticked up from 7.8 to 7.9%. that's the highest number an incumbent president has faced on election day since franklin roosevelt. mitt romney says he will do a better job if he is elected. the republican nominee is spending the last few days of the campaign making that case in the battleground states. romney is in wisconsin and ohio today trying to pick up the few remaining undecided voters. >> and we asked them and you to look beyond the speeches and the attacks and the ads, look to the record. >> reporter: the r